Air India Kolkata office receives threat call

KOLKATA: An anonymous telephone call threatening that an Air India plane would be hijacked was made to the city office of the state-owned carrier this evening, police said.

A senior Kolkata police official said it was a brief call in Bengali threatening that an Air India flight would be hijacked. The official, however, did not specify which flight would be targeted.

The official said that the local police station has been informed.

City Police Commissioner Surajit Kar Purakayastha told PTI that "a call was received at Air India office today. Though such calls are quite common, still we are looking into it quite seriously. There is nothing alarming".

An Air India spokesperson here said the call was received by its officials at the city booking office at around 5.40 PM and a complaint was subsequently lodged with the Bowbazar police station in central Kolkata.

"The Bureau of Civil Aviation has been contacted and all standard precautionary measures have been taken. Flight operation is normal from Kolkata," the spokesperson added.

Senior officials of Bureau of Civil Aviation Security, CISF and AAI held a meeting in Kolkata tonight to review the security measures.